"Ostrakon" in translation from Greek means "a shard of an earthen vessel" (less often it is a seashell, eggshell or a fragment of limestone). Due to their availability (compared to papyri), clay shards were used in ancient times for personal and business records, financial calculations and short letters. In ancient Greece, potsherds were used for voting. With good reason, they can be called the prototype of modern bulletins. The text on the ostracons was written in ink or scratched out with a sharp incisor. In different countries, whole archives of these artifacts were found, which are being studied by the science of papyrology.
Source of knowledge
Scientists-papyrologists who decipher messages from antiquity consider ostracons a valuable source of knowledge not only about the life of our distant ancestors, but also about business and political life.
Archaeological expeditions find ostracons in different countries. These finds are acquired by both historical museums and private collectors. At a recent auction in New York, an anonymous lover of antiques bought an ostracon dating back to the 1st century for a very impressive sum. It captured the magic formula with which the ancient Egyptians turned to the goddess Isis.
At the same auction, a Japanese collector became the owner of a set of ostracons containing correspondence between the customer and the wine supplier.
The National Historical Museum of Greece in Athens acquired an ostracon found in the Egyptian city of Elephantine. It is dated 149 and is a receipt for the tax that the population paid to fund public services and public works in the city.
The inscriptions on the clay shards were made by specially trained scribes. Some of them left their names on the ostracons. One of the most famous was the ancient Greek scribe Kefalos, son of Picos. Hundreds of now famous ostracons emerged from under his incisor.
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Turning to the Lord
Limestone fragments were widely used for messages and documents in the 1st century. A limestone ostracon recently found in the same Elephantine contains the monogram of Christ, followed by a poetic appeal to the Lord, prophets, martyrs and righteous men.
In 1935, during the excavation of the ancient city of Lachish, Egyptian scientists discovered 18 ostracons containing personal correspondence between two relatives. One of them borrowed from the other, which he confirmed with a receipt on the ostracon. When the time came to repay the debt, he began to refer to temporary financial difficulties and in his letters asked a relative for a delay. As you can see, nothing in our world changes …
Israeli archaeologists have found ostracons, the study of which made it possible to trace the development of writing, as well as the vocabulary of Hebrew and Aramaic. Ostrakons, found in the ancient Israeli city of Gezer, contain poetic messages from an ancient pi'eta to a certain beloved named Safariya. Figurative metaphorical language testifies to the depth of feelings and sincerity of a young man in love.
According to scientists, other finds of the Israelis indicate a predominantly agricultural direction in the economy of the region in the 1st century.
They also prove that in those days the main agricultural products were various grains, wine and olive oil.
The found ostracons enrich the modern understanding of the system of taxes and duties, of social stratification in the Ancient World, and sometimes establish or confirm certain historical facts. In the Israeli fortress of Metsad Hashavyahu, a large ostracon measuring 20 × 7.5 centimeters, dated to the end of the 7th century BC, was discovered. This is a letter from the reaper to the head of the local garrison with a request to return to him the clothes unjustly selected by the overseer for allegedly not fulfilling the quitrent.
Career find
Ostracons are also found on the territory of the former USSR. The Greco-Scythian settlement in the Yevpatoria region was discovered in 1959, when, during work on a sand quarry, a Greek square was discovered - part of the North-Eastern tower. In 1963, scientists from the Crimean Archaeological Expedition of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University came here. It was they who began regular excavations. It was found that the site was founded in the middle of the 4th century BC. and built in a typical Greek manner. Over the years, it has given and continues to present amazing findings to researchers.
The summer of 2013 was also marked by the found clay ostracon. Subsequently, the record on it was deciphered by scientists.
The shard was accidentally stumbled by black trackers, who always follow the trail of specialists. They went down to the excavation site and saw that a fragment of a tile with an incomprehensible text was sticking out of the wall. The guys brought the find to a local antiquarian, who bought it out, and then donated it to the Evpatoria Museum of Local Lore. An expert, doctor of historical sciences, professor of universities in St. Petersburg and the city of Aarhus (Denmark) Tatyana Smekalova got acquainted with him in the museum.
In her opinion, this piece of pottery is a real scientific sensation!
Sarmatian women of fashion
The find proves that in ancient times there were active business relations between the Greek colonialists and the peoples who inhabited the Crimean peninsula in those distant times. Tatyana Smekalova stressed that until now, such evidence has fallen into the hands of scientists very little.
“It is a great luck that the shard became the subject of research by specialists, and did not get lost in private collections, as it sometimes happened,” said Tatiana Nikolaevna.
The well-known epigraphist, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sergei Takhtasiev, deciphered the message and concluded that this was a kind of trade order for the precious stone chrysolite (chrysolite, topaz).
It was also found that the shard belongs to the 1st century and is a fragment of a red slip bowl. The bowl has obviously broken, and someone has written important information on the shard.
It turns out that in ancient times the peoples inhabiting the Crimea kept some kind of household records. Most likely, the Sarmatians ordered jewelry from a Greek merchant for their wives and daughters. Going on a long voyage, he wrote down who exactly and what to bring.
Ostrakon contains female names, against each it is indicated what this person wants to receive as a present.
Products from topaz were in great demand then. Ancient fashionistas gladly wore jewelry made from this gem. According to the ancient chronicles, topaz was a favorite stone of rulers, who decorated their clothes and crowns.
Mysterious burial
It should be noted that the colonization of Crimea by the Greeks allowed the local peoples to get acquainted with the achievements of civilization. From the Greeks, they received red-lacquered and black-lacquered dishes, the secret of making wine, jewelry technique for processing stone. Imported beads and bracelets, which Greek merchants bought from Middle Eastern masters, were highly valued by Crimean beauties.
But the ostracon with orders for topaz was far from the only valuable find during the 2013 Crimean expedition. In a female burial of the 7th century, which was discovered during the construction of a bypass road near Simferopol (on a site in the direction of the Nikolaev highway), scientists stumbled upon various objects - there were both purely ladies' things (mirrors, tweezers, tweezers, hairpins) and men's military belt sets with graceful silver buckles, which were located next to the body of the buried lady. Researchers believed that these items, placed in a woman's grave, carried a certain mystical meaning. The woman who died was most likely an Amazon. Then it is quite justified that she set off on her last journey, equipped with male military armor.
According to the second version, the living simply wanted to transfer the warrior's belt to someone in the afterlife. There is a third version, according to which the ancients emphasized the status of the deceased with a military attribute.
One way or another, but almost every valuable archaeological find in Crimea ends up in the offices and laboratories of scientists. Their research expands our knowledge about the life of the ancient tribes that inhabited the Crimean peninsula.
Vladimir PETROV